Not Applicable
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a nailer, more particularly to a pneumatic nailer for successively dispensing nails from a magazine and repeatedly driving the nails. More specifically, the present invention relates to a lightweight hand held nailer known as a xe2x80x9cPalm Nailerxe2x80x9d, which has been adapted for the nailing of metal plates such as joist hangers
2. Description of Prior Art
Typical pneumatic driving tools, particularly those capable of driving large nails, do so with a single stroke of the driver, and are characterized by rather large size and considerable weight. Generally such nailers have magazines which extend from the rearward end of the driving tool to the guide body at the lower forward end of the tool. Magazines are usually configured to accommodate a strip of nails constituting nails arranged in a single row and held in place by tape or disposable wire elements welded to each nail shank along the length of the strip. The number of nails in a given load is limited to the length of the magazine. Alternative mechanisms for increasing the capacity of a nailer magazine may involve the use of canister type magazines to receive a coil of nails and a long strip of nails housed in a separate canister remote from the tool. These large pneumatic nailers have been adapted to specific nailing functions such as framing, siding, flooring, and roofing. All of these tools are relatively large and heavy and for those operations where the tool must be held overhead or at heights, a fair amount of fatigue is induced into the operator. Recently, such nailers have been adapted to use a strip of the rather short, blunt nail used for joist hangers and similar metal plates.
These large, relatively heavy nailers are single blow tools. The nail is driven into the wood or other workpiece by one stroke of the driver blade. While this makes the tool operate faster, it also significantly adds to the size and weight of the tool. These tool shoot either round headed nails or a clipped head nail, also known as a xe2x80x9cDxe2x80x9d shaped nail, reflecting the shape of the nail head. The round nail guns utilize a round driver blade or a half moon driver blade. The clipped head nail guns use a rectangular driver blade or a half moon driver blade.
Other nailers are electromagnetically driven as through a solenoid and a fly wheel or an internal combustion driver wherein an explosive or other burning charge is utilized to power the nail int the nail site.
Because of the weight and the fatigue involved with these large single stroke nail drivers, a lightweight tool commonly known to those skilled in the art as a xe2x80x9cpalm nailerxe2x80x9d was introduced. The palm nailer is a lightweight multiple blow nail driving device wherein a single nail is placed into the tool nose and the tool, including the nail with the point protruding the tool nose, is then placed against the site where the nail is to be driven. The driving is actuated by pressing on the tool held in the palm of the hand toward the surface into which the nail is to be driven. As the tool is pressed, the nail containing nose of the tool is depressed into the body of the nailer to a point where the nailing action is actuated. As the tool is continually pressed, the driver repeatedly cycles, pounding the nail into the wood or other material, in a fashion similar to a manual hammer pounding the nail into the material. Palm nails are convenient and because of their small size and light weight, are favored for overhead and situations where the tool needs to be held in the air and away from the body. The disadvantage with palm nailers is that they are single nail driving devices and until the present invention, a magazine has not been successfully attached to the tool wherein the driving mechanism was sufficiently isolated from the adjacent nails in a magazine or a rack such that only the first nail was driven in to the desired location.
The present invention is specifically directed to the use of a palm nailer in an overhead application such as for the nailing of joist hangers and other similar plating materials utilized in building construction. In these applications, multiple nails are required to be driven and the need to continually load individual nails into a palm nailer is an inconvenience and a time consuming function. In the case also of overhead applications such as joist hangers and other plates, typically a heavy gauge short shank nail is utilized. The style of nail required for such an application further complicates the attachment of a magazine to the palm nailer wherein a single nail is driven from the magazine. The present invention incorporates adaptations to the tool nose and conventional nail magazines for pneumatic nailers in order to provide a reliable palm nailer with a magazine. A further feature to the present invention is that the magazine may be freely rotatable around the axis of the tools nose and nail being driven such that the magazine may be conveniently moved out of the way in close or tight nailing applications. Those skilled in the art will recognize that existing magazine nailers are constructed where the magazine is an integral part of the nailer and oriented generally in line with a handle by which the user holds and controls the nailing operation. A further feature of the present invention making it particularly suitable for the nailing of joist hangers and related plates is that the tool nose and magazine present the nail to be driven such that the point of the nail is visible and protrudes from the driver assembly such that it may be conveniently located into the hole and plate in which the nail is to be driven providing additional utility and speed with the use of the tool.
Magazines have heretofore not been included on palm nailers because of the repeating or multiple blow delivered to the nail being driven into the workpiece. Maintaining the orientation of the driver blade with respect tot he nail head of the nail being driven and keeping the nail adjacent the one being driven from encroaching into the line of fire of the driver blade has posed a problem not previously solved. The present invention solves the problem of adding a magazine to a multiblow nailer such as the palm nailer, by adapting the tool nose and magazine to maintain the necessary separation of the nails during the driving cycle.
The present invention pertains to a palm nailer. Palm nailers are small, hand held pneumatic nail guns carrying a single nail load. They are utilized for nailing into tight places such as into the corners and between floor joists. Current nail holders require that each nail be hand loaded into the nose of the nailer, one nail at a time, subsequent to the shooting of the prior nail. The nail is held into the nose of the tool by a small magnet placed in the nose adjacent the shaft of the nail when loaded. As the tool is operated it is oriented straight up and down with respect to the intended axis of driving of the nail. The palm nailer is then pressed downwardly toward the surface into which the nail is to be implanted which causes the nose of the tool to be pressed upwardly into the palm nailer actuating the pneumatic valve causing the tool to cycle with repetitive strikes of the nail by the nail driver driving the nail into the work surface. The present invention incorporates a magazine onto the nose of the tool which not only saves the time otherwise required for individual loading of the tool, but adds safety to the tool in that the operator is not placing hands anywhere near the nose of the tools. Should one press the nail inwardly into the nose of the tool unloading too aggressively and cause the nose of the tool to be pressed into the body of the palm nailer thereby actuating the driver blade, serious injury could result to the operator""s hand.
An additional feature of the present invention is that the magazine is attached to the nose of the tool and may swivel throughout 360 degree rotation about the axis of the nose of the tool and the driver blade. With the magazine in the lower nose of the tool being able to pivot 360 degrees, the operator may reposition the magazine to get into very tight places for the placement of multiple nails.
The magazine of the present invention is in most respects similar to the magazines of other pneumatic tools. Also in a preferred embodiment, the magazine and the lower nose of the tools are integrally connected and move up and down as a single unit as the tool is pressed downwardly to actuate the firing of a nail. The magazine is oriented on the nose of the tools such that the first nail, namely the one to be driven, when cycled into the driving position, extends outwardly of the nose of the tool an amount sufficient to be placed into the hole of joist hangers and other steel plates which are to be attached. This feature allows for an easy and safe placement of the nail into the particular work site. The magazine and the construction of the nose of the tool are such that when the rack of nails in a downwardly cascading arrangement are sequenced into position for operation, and the point of the first nail in the registry is extending below the nose of the tool before the tool is placed into the work site, it will be noticed that the second nail of the cascade, or the one adjacent the nail to be driven, also extends outwardly of the magazine. The magazine and the nose of the tool in the chamber where the nails are received immediately prior to being oriented into driving position have a chamber which allows the rack of nails, particularly the second nail, that the nail adjacent the nail to be driven, has sufficient room within the chamber of the nose of the tool and the magazine such that as the nose of the tools is pressed downwardly in the work site, the nail adjacent the nail to be driven has room to move upwardly in the chamber without being deflected either forwardly or rearwardly and therefore, can be retained in that ready position adjacent the nail being driven.
Accordingly, the structure of the present invention enables the attachment of a magazine to a multiple blow nailer such as a palm nailer wherein the nail adjacent the one being driven is maintained in a ready position during the driving cycle, however, out of the line of fire of the driver blade until such time as the nail being driven is completely seated and the tool recycled.